THE pain from Spain is mainly in Iran. The World Cup minnows from the land of the Ayatollahs were cruelly undone Diego Costa’s knee and a video assistant referee more than 500 miles away in Moscow. Carlos Queiroz’s Asian qualifiers were convinced they had pulled off one of the greatest World Cup shocks of all time. But they were denied a second-half equaliser by the 21st technology of VAR after Costa had unwittingly fired Spain into a 54th-minute lead. And now they are heading for an early exit unless they can pull off something even more spectacular in their final group game against Portugal next week. Yet the men from the Islamic Republic certainly didn’t look as though they were planning to catch the first flight back to Tehran. After winning their opening game against Morocco to briefly top Group B, they clearly were not going to be overawed by the superstar reputation of their opponents. Mehdi Taremi served early notice of Iran’s intentions when he clattered into Spanish skipper Sergio Ramos in the opening minutes. Real Madrid’s master of the dark arts was none too impressed by that one and quickly made his own presence felt with a hefty challenge on Sardar Azmoun. Yet Iran were more than happy to turn it into a scrap if it disrupted Spain’s natural rhythm. sexy football Russia’s hottest World Cup fan revealed to be porn star by randy fans Eden the sand Hazard accuses Lukaku of ‘hiding’ as Belgium struggled to break… [Read full story]